Welcome to Historia’s most popular regular feature, our round-up of historical books published by members of the Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) to look out for this year. In 2026, there are more than 130 books so far — historical fiction, history, and biography. They range from Ancient Greece and Rome to the mid-20th century via the Viking […]
The invention of masculine fashion
Novelist Carolyn Kirby describes how research for her new novel, Ravenglass, led her to wonder what lay behind the apparently radical shift in men’s fashions during the late 18th century. She discusses the invention of the ‘masculine’ style that still dominates menswear. The clothes we wear are more than fashion choices. They tell other people […]
The 2025 HWA Crown Awards shortlists
The Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) has great pleasure in revealing the 2025 Crown Awards shortlists, celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, published during 2024–2025. There are three awards categories — HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown — and six shortlisted books in each category. The books shortlisted for […]
Historia interview: Carolyn Kirby
Carolyn Kirby, award-winning author of When We Fall and The Conviction Of Cora Burns. talks to AD Bergin about her new novel, Ravenglass. A sweeping adventure with a cross-dressing main character, Kit, it’s set against a backdrop of 18th-century social and industrial revolution, the lesser-known regional slave trade, and the Jacobite rising of 1745. AB: […]
Ravenglass by Carolyn Kirby
In 18th-century Whitehaven, Kit Ravenglass grows up in a house of secrets. A shameful mystery surrounds his mother’s death, and his formidable, newly rich father is gambling everything on shipping ventures. Kit takes solace in his beloved sister Fliss, and her sumptuous silks, although he knows better than to reveal his delight in feminine fashion. […]
The Blackbirds of St Giles by Lila Cain
It’s 1782, Daniel and his sister Pearl arrive in London with the world at their feet and their future assured. Having escaped a Jamaican sugar plantation, Daniel fought for the British in the American War of Independence and was rewarded with freedom and an inheritance. But the city is not a place for men like […]
Ship of Thieves by Douglas Skelton
Jonas Flynt’s stepmother, Mercy, has been abducted from Edinburgh and carried back to the West Indies by her former owner. Gideon Flynt, his father, has followed in hot pursuit, but Cassie, Jonas’s first love, knows Gideon is not the man he once was and appeals to Flynt for help. Naturally, he agrees. Against Colonel Nathaniel […]
Historical books for summer reading, 2025
We asked five well-loved authors to each suggest a couple of books they recommend for history lovers to enjoy reading over the summer. Their choices include novels about the eve of the Roman Conquest and the eve of the Norman one; non-fiction about the long history of Black people in Britain and the island’s first […]